The situation
You own a house or a plot in Lomé, or you are buying one from the diaspora. Right now it sits in your personal name, and three problems follow from that. The title paperwork lives with whoever happens to hold it. Collecting rent while you are in Paris, Abidjan or New York means relying on a relative and a cash economy. And if something happens to you, the property passes through a personal succession that can take years and split a single house among heirs who cannot agree.
A company solves all three by putting one legal owner between you and the asset.
Why hold property through a Togo company
A Togolese company that owns your property gives you a single, durable owner of record and a clean structure around it:
- Title held by one entity. The property is registered to the company, not to a person who travels or passes away. Your ownership is expressed as shares in the company.
- Rent collected locally. The company opens a Togolese bank account and receives rent into it while you are abroad, with a proper lease and a paper trail instead of cash handed to a cousin.
- Inheritance in shares, not land. Succession transfers the company's shares, which is far simpler than dividing a physical building. You can allocate shares to heirs in the proportions you choose, during your lifetime.
- Foreign owners welcome. A Togolese company can be fully owned by non-residents, and it is treated as a Togolese legal person for holding property. There is no need for a local partner.
SCI or SARL for property?
The classic property-holding vehicle is the SCI — the Société Civile Immobilière, a civil (non-commercial) company built specifically to own and manage real estate. It suits a family holding a home or a rental and planning succession. A SARL is the better choice when the activity is genuinely commercial — building to sell, or running property as a trading business. On a first call we tell you which fits your situation, rather than defaulting to one.
Get the title right first
The single most important thing about Togolese property is whether it is titled. A registered titre foncier is secure and transfers cleanly into a company; an untitled parcel, however cheap, carries dispute risk that no corporate wrapper fixes. Our advice is consistent: buy titled, verify the title, then hold it in a company. If a plot is untitled, that is a conversation to have before money moves, not after.
What Volta delivers
We are in Lomé, so we handle the whole thing in person rather than at arm's length:
- Formation of your property company (SCI or SARL) — statuts, notary, RCCM, tax ID.
- A registered office in Lomé and certified documents delivered to you.
- A lease template and, on the Complete engagement, the corporate bank account opened in person so rent flows into the company.
- A notary check on the land position for your specific parcel before you buy.
Formation starts at $790 (Essentials); add the bank account and first-year compliance with Complete. We can also introduce a diaspora real-estate partner if you are still sourcing the property.
Holding property in Togo?
Tell us about the property and where you live. We reply within one business day with the right structure and a fixed fee.
General information as at July 2026, not legal advice. Togolese land law (Code foncier et domanial) governs property transfers, and some transactions involving foreigners require authorization; the treatment of a foreign-owned Togolese company for land purposes should be confirmed with a Lomé notary for each parcel. Related reading: how to register a company in Togo · SARL vs SAS.